The present invention relates to photographic processing equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved indicia sensor system for use in an automatic photographic paper cutter.
In commercial photographic processing operations, very high rates of processing must be achieved and maintained in order to operate profitably. To expedite the photographic processing, orders containing film of similar type and size are spliced together for developing. As many as 500 to 1000 rolls of 12, 20 and 36 exposure film may be spliced together for processing and printing purposes.
After developing, the photographic images contained in the film negatives are printed in an edge-to-edge relationship on a continuous strip of photosensitive paper by a photographic printer. The photographic printer causes high intensity light to be passed through a negative and imaged on the photographic print paper. The photographic emulsion layer on the print paper is exposed and is subsequently processed to produce a print of the image contained in the negative.
After the strip of print paper has been photoprocessed to produce prints, a photographic paper cutter cuts individual prints from the strip. The prints are then sorted by customer order and ultimately packaged and sent to the customer.
Automatic print cutters have been developed which automatically cut the print paper into individual prints. These automatic print cutters are controlled by indicia which are placed along the print paper by the photographic printer. Typically the indicia are of two types: cut marks and end-of-order marks. The cut marks indicate the desired location of a cut between adjacent prints. The end-of-order marks, which typically appear along the opposite edge of the print paper from the cut marks, indicate the end of a customer's order. The automatic paper cutter includes a sensor which senses the cut mark and causes the individual prints to be cut from the strip at the desired locations. The separated prints are passed to an order packaging or grouping device, which groups the prints in response to the end-of-order marks which are sensed by the automatic cutter.
Unfortunately, the cut marks and the end-of-order marks produced by photographic printers are not standardized as to shape, size, or location with respect to the edge of the print paper. As a result of this variation in indicia size, shape, and location, the indicia sensors utilized in previous automatic cutters have required highly critical adjustment of the position of the sensor by the operator. This is very undesirable since the adjustments are time consuming and are highly dependent upon the skill of the operator.
In a co-pending patent application by R. Harvey, G. Strunc, and D. Putzke entitled "Wide Scanning Angle Sensor" now U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,099, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present application, an improved, wide scanning angle indicia sensor is described. The wide scanning angle sensor has a wider angle sensing capability that the sensors which have been used in previous automatic paper cutters. It accommodates, therefore, greater variation in indicia size, shape, and location than the prior art indicia sensors.
While the wide scanning angle sensor described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,099 offers significant advantages over the prior art sensors, further improvements in indicia sensing are desirable. For example, the wide scanning angle sensor still requires adjustments in the position of the sensor by the operator. In addition, an indicia sensor system capable of accomodating even greater variation in indicia size, shape, and location is desirable.